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ShelterBox Responds To Flooding In Indonesia

Photo by Kate Lamb. Children play in floodwaters in last year’s floods in Jakarta, January 2013.

A ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) is travelling to Indonesia tomorrow to assess the shelter needs of the tens of thousands of people displaced by monsoon rains that have caused flooding in the capital Jakarta as well as landslides in North Sulawesi province.

More than 30,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes in Jakarta, leaving their homes, possessions and livelihoods as the capital becomes more and more inundated from heavy rains.

As floodwaters have reached three metres in some districts, Indonesian soldiers have arrived to help residents in the sprawling city of 10 million people. Families can be seen wading through shoulder deep floodwaters to seek safety in temporary shelters, including schools and mosques.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (NDMA) said the floods have already caused about US$80 million in damage.

There are now further reports of heavy rains hitting other parts of the archipelago, including North Sulawesi province where flash floods have taken lives and left tens of thousands more homeless, according to the NDMA.

Power is down in most parts of the region and communication lines are disrupted. SRT member Jamie Adams will be joining Vensentius Dwijatmoko, an SRT member from Indonesia, to carry out needs assessments in the most affected areas. Vensentius’s local knowledge and language will be an asset to ShelterBox’s disaster relief work there.

‘I can only imagine how bad it will be.’

‘I’m making final arrangements now at home for my deployment tomorrow to Indonesia in response to the flooding and landslides,’ said Jamie. ‘I can only imagine how bad it will be. Information is still coming in on where the most affected areas are and there is a Response Team member already in the area. I am really confident that ShelterBox will be able to make a difference.’

Further heavy rains are forecast for the coming days, potentially worsening floods and already bad living conditions.